2016 studio album by Loretta Lynn
| Full Circle | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Loretta Lynn | ||||
| Released | March 4, 2016 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 2007–2015 | |||
| Studio | Cash Cabin Studio, Hendersonville, TN | |||
| Genre | Country, Americana, country folk | |||
| Length | 38:49 | |||
| Label | Sony Legacy | |||
| Producer | Patsy Lynn Russell, John Carter Cash | |||
| Loretta Lynn chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Full Circle | ||||
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Full Circle is the forty-third solo studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released on March 4, 2016, by Sony Legacy. It was produced by Lynn's daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, and John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The album became Lynn's 40th album to reach the top ten of the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart and her career peak on the US Billboard 200, debuting at number 19. The album received a nomination for Best Country Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background
Recorded at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the album was Lynn's first new studio recording in 12 years. The album is a mixture of recordings inspired by Appalachian folk songs Lynn learned as a child and newer versions of past hits, and includes duets with Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson.
Previous recordings
Four songs on the album had previously been recorded by Lynn:
- "Whispering Sea" was previously recorded for Zero Records in 1960 as the B-side of her first single, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl".
- "Secret Love" had been previously recorded for her 1967 album Singin' with Feelin'.
- "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" was previously recorded for her 1965 album Hymns.
- "Fist City" was previously recorded for her 1968 album of the same name.
Promotion
The album's first single, "Everything It Takes", premiered on Rolling Stone's website on January 14, 2016. It was released for digital download the following day, January 15.
On February 4, 2016, Pitchfork premiered the second single, "Who's Gonna Miss Me?", on their website. It was made available for digital download on February 5.
An updated version of Lynn's 1965 song, "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven", was released as the third single from the album. It was premiered by Time magazine via their website on February 16, 2016. On February 17 the single was made available for digital download.
The album's fourth and final single, "Lay Me Down", was written by Mark Marchetti, husband of Lynn's daughter, Peggy. It was released as a single on March 23, 2016. A music video was released on Lynn's VEVO channel the same day.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Pitchfork Media | (8.0/10) |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin |   |
| Flood Magazine | (7/10) |
| Vice (Expert Witness) |  |
Full Circle was released to strong reviews and near universal acclaim. It received a rating of 84 at Metacritic.com to date. Country Weekly called the album "a wonderful and welcome piece of work, 14 solid songs that shift easily from Appalachian mountain soul to pure country and even spiritual fare. Plus, Loretta has simply never sounded better." Pitchfork wrote "She makes a grab-bag late-late-career album feel not only emotionally grounded, but like a powerful choice." Houston Press' positive review writes "For an artist who has been so incredibly prolific, it's statistically improbable that, at 83 years old, Lynn would be recording some of the best music of her career." Spin opined that it was "a mandatory look back at one of country music's most essential artists." In Vice, Robert Christgau named "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" and "Wine Into Water" as highlights while summing the album up as "remakes that never seem redundant from an 83-year-old who's lived clean but never been a prig about it".
Commercial performance
The album debuted at No. 4 on the Top Country Albums chart, the 40th top 10 on the chart for Lynn, selling 20,000 in its release week. It also debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard 200, the highest in her career on that chart. The recording has sold 75,300 U. S. copies as of September 2017.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Whispering Sea Introduction" | Loretta Lynn | 0:55 |
| 2. | "Whispering Sea" | Loretta Lynn | 2:16 |
| 3. | "Secret Love" | Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster | 3:20 |
| 4. | "Who's Gonna Miss Me?" | Loretta Lynn, Lola Jean Dillon | 2:44 |
| 5. | "Black Jack David" | A. P. Carter | 2:09 |
| 6. | "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" | Loretta Lynn | 2:53 |
| 7. | "Always on My Mind" | Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, Mark James | 3:27 |
| 8. | "Wine Into Water" | T. Graham Brown, Bruce Burch, Ted Hewitt | 3:21 |
| 9. | "In the Pines" | Unknown | 3:07 |
| 10. | "Band of Gold" | Bob Musel, Jack Taylor | 2:52 |
| 11. | "Fist City" | Loretta Lynn | 2:16 |
| 12. | "I Never Will Marry" | A. P. Carter | 3:37 |
| 13. | "Everything It Takes" (duet with Elvis Costello) | Loretta Lynn, Todd Snider | 3:01 |
| 14. | "Lay Me Down" (duet with Willie Nelson) | Mark Marchetti | 2:50 |
| Total length: | 38:49 | ||
Personnel
- Ronnie Bowman - backing vocals
- Mike Bub - upright bass
- Sam Bush - mandolin
- Shawn Camp - acoustic guitar, mandolin
- Laura Cash - acoustic guitar
- Elvis Costello - duet vocals on "Everything it Takes"
- Dennis Crouch - bass guitar, upright bass
- Mark Fain - upright bass
- Paul Franklin - pedal steel guitar
- Tony Harrell - piano
- Jamie Hartford - electric guitar
- Rick Lonow - drums
- Loretta Lynn - lead vocals
- Ronnie McCoury - mandolin
- Pat McLaughlin - mandolin
- Willie Nelson - duet vocals on "Lay Me Down"
- Jon Randall - backing vocals
- Randy Scruggs - acoustic guitar
- Will Smith - autoharp
- Bryan Sutton - banjo, acoustic guitar
- Robby Turner - pedal steel guitar
- Laura Weber - fiddle, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- Jeff White - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Chart performance
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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References
- "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Loretta Lynn Earns Her Highest Charting Album Ever With 'Full Circle'". Billboard. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
- "Loretta Lynn Preparing First New Album in More Than 10 Years, 'Full Circle'". Billboard. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
- "Loretta Lynn Announces New Studio Album 'Full Circle'". Rolling Stone. November 10, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- "Loretta Lynn on New Album Full Circle: 'We Don't Have Real Country Music Anymore'". Time. March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
- Grow, Kory (January 14, 2016). "Hear Loretta Lynn, Elvis Costello Sing Plaintive New Duet". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
- "Listen to Loretta Lynn's 'Who's Gonna Miss Me?,' From New Album Full Circle". Pitchfork. February 3, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
- "Hear Loretta Lynn Update 'Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven'". Time. February 16, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
- "Loretta Lynn - Lay Me Down (Duet with Willie Nelson)". YouTube. March 23, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
- Full Circle at AllMusic
- "Pitchfork Media review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
- Rolling Stone review
- Spin review
- Flood Magazine review
- ^ Christgau, Robert (April 22, 2016). "Covers, Classics, and Tributes: Expert Witness with Robert Christgau". Vice. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- (2016). "Full Circle" Metacritic.com (accessed March 13, 2016)
- "Full Circle by Loretta Lynn". Country Weekly. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- "Loretta Lynn Full Circle". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- McCarthy, Amy. "Loretta Lynn's Complicated Politics come Full Circle". Houston Press. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- McKenna, Brittney. "Review: Loretta Lynn May Have Come 'Full Circle' But She Ain't Done Yet". Spin. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- Asker, Jim (March 15, 2016). "Cole Swindell & Carrie Underwood Take Over Country Songs Charts". Billboard.
- Bjorke, Matt (March 20, 2017). "Top 10 Country Albums Sales Chart: March 20, 2017". Roughstock.
- Ryan, Gavin (March 12, 2016). "ARIA Albums: The Cat Empire Debuts at No 1". Noise11. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
- "Ultratop.be – Loretta Lynn – Full Circle" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
- "Loretta Lynn Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
- "Dutchcharts.nl – Loretta Lynn – Full Circle" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
- 17, 2016/21/ "Official Country Artists Albums Chart Top 20". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
- "Loretta Lynn Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
- "Loretta Lynn Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
- "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- "Loretta Lynn Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
